after today
by merudy
Summary: "Juvia… Juvia is the one who killed Gray-sama's father. She doesn't have the right to love him anymore." Her embrace has always been there, open for him alone, but his ignorance served him nothing. Based on chapter 416. [drabble]


**After Today**

"_Juvia… Juvia is the one who killed Gray-sama's father…she doesn't have the right to love him anymore."_

_Thump. Thump. _

It could have been a creature hopping; it may as well be something knocking against a surface, or a substance dripping down to something something solid. But no— it was the sound of a heart beating. It sang in a unique motion, falling melodiously with the rain and snow.

It was her heartbeat. It was ghastly, but it was beautiful — it was Gray's favorite sound. He has always been comfortable with the cold as he was associated with it — but the warmth of her embrace was something else.

She may not be as warm as Natsu, Totomaru or the others, but there was something in her touch than contented him more than anything else. Something that matched her softness or the fragrance mixed with her mere presence. It was something he was truly becoming fond of, something irreplaceable. Something he knew, from this moment, that he'd fight for.

Juvia Lockser's love.

Yes — _love. _The one thing he had forgotten to feel and failed to understand.

It was the sappy word for sappy people— something Gray was not. But she has always been capable of doing even the most impossible things— from majestically cooking something what other girls cannot to coaxing his frozen heart to remember something lost within him. Juvia had always been special.

She was he had been looking for. The key to his — whatever, he didn't know. This "love"-thing was really difficult to understand. After all, he has always been afraid of feeling it after his parents' and Ur's passing, in the fear of losing what he loved again. _Again._

"... Thank you." He whispers again.

Everyone he meets finds individual places in his heart. From Natsu— who stopped him from casting Iced Shell and meeting the same fate as Ur had — to Lucy, who proved a great friend to him from the beginning. The guild was important to him — heck, he did _love _the guild. It just seemed so gay to say it out loud, didn't it?

But loving Juvia… it was different. Loving her was something he always wanted to keep doing. It was one that made him happy, just merely feeling it did.

From being stuck in a frozen notion, he felt her hands twitch and, after a moment, he felt one rest atop his head and another on his back.

She was already sealing the frost away. With just her honesty, or even the small sensation of having her skin in contact with his. Something impossible for others to do was too simple for her.

_Way too simple. _

Whenever Gray Fullbuster finds something he learns to love, he loses them. And if he loved her, he could hurt her, or lose her. Fate had always had that power.

But… he can always overpower that. From now, he promises to do _everything_ to protect her. After all… he was stronger now.

Gray though he would lose all the control he had left when she dipped her face on his hair and press her lips against it. He waited to feel her smile, but she didn't.

She was an all new kind of drug. Gray felt dumb— her embrace has always been there, open for him alone, but his ignorance served him nothing.

Not always can ignorance be bliss.

"Gray-sama..." He heard her sob. Why was she still crying? She was the most pure-hearted person he knew; this cruel world didn't deserve such a person's tears. "Juvia... Juvia is sorry... She doesn't deserve…"

"Shh," he shushed her. He lifted his face from her chest and leaned his forehead on hers. He kisses the tears that has escaped to her cheeks away and wipes those on her eyes with his thumb. "Don't cry."

"Juvia... Juvia killed..."

"You didn't. He was long since dead before we met him, didn't we?" He whispered softly, bringing his hand up to caress her hair. He rested her forehead against his own, finding himself lost under her deep midnights. "He must be very thankful to you — after all, you finally freed him, didn't you?"

She didn't reply. Instead, she looked at him with the most wilting, most heartbreaking orbs Gray had ever laid sight on. He wipes more of the moisture welling up the corners of her eyes. She closes them and hides her face on his chest. A pair of arms snake their way on his back and he, in turn, embraces her back.

"Don't cry," he repeated like a mantra; he pats her back as she continues to sob in his chest. And he let her.

After today, she will never cry those tears anymore. And he will make sure of that.

**Isn't Fairy Tail 416 just the feel-iest chapter ever? Gruvia/Nalu/GaLe/Jerza in just one chapter, can you all believe it? Opinions, anyone?**

**Late post because I had no wifi. **

**Thank you for reading! Fave/Review? **

**Signing out, **

—_crimsonflares_


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